Abortion Information
While the Miami Valley Women's Center does not perform or refer for abortion, we feel it is in your best interest to know the procedures and risks before you decide.
Before 14 Weeks
Suction Aspiration:
For this procedure you lie on your back with your feet in stirrups, and the doctor applies a shot of anesthetic to your cervix to reduce pain. Your opening to the uterus is stretched with cone-shaped rods until the opening is wide enough to allow the abortion tool to pass into your uterus. Then the doctor guides the suction device through the opening and into your uterus.
When the suction machine is turned on you feel the strong force of the vacuum which is used to pull the placenta and fetus into parts small enough to pass out of your body through the suction tube. During the surgery the doctor cannot see the inside of your uterus and operates by touch alone, trying to detach the fetus from the wall of the uterus with the powerful suction tip.
Dilation and Curettage:
The doctor enters the opening to the uterus, as described above, but in this case the abortion is done with a loop-shaped knife which he uses to scrape the wall of your uterus, cutting the fetus and placenta into smaller parts and pulling them out of your body through the opening.
After 14 Weeks
Dilation and Evacuation:
Because the bones of the fetus are larger and stronger by this time, the doctor uses a medical instrument resembling pliers to pull the fetus into smaller parts and removes those parts from your body through the opening of your uterus. This procedure requires that the opening be stretched wider than with suction or D and C methods, and there is greater risk of harm to your reproductive organs.
Late-Term Abortion
Dilation and Extraction:
The partial birth abortion procedure is illegal in Ohio, therefore the Dilation and Extraction procedure is done in the following manner: Laminaria (a type of seaweed that expands when moist) is used to dilate the opening to uterus over a one or two day period. On the second or third day, the membranes are ruptured. An ultrasound is used to locate the fetal heart and medication is injected into the heart to cause the fetus to die. Then the baby is delivered feet first till the head appears. Then the base of the skull is punctured and the brain is suctioned out of the skull so that the head will collapse and the delivery of the dead baby can be completed.
"Abortion procedures" reproduced with permission of Frontlines publishing; Grand Rapids MI
*This information is intended for general education purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional and/or medical advice.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you decide to have an abortion, you’ll want a permanent record of what the doctor told you. Take this checklist home with you and keep it in a safe place. Some of the effects associated with abortion may not show up for several years. If anything does happen to you during or after the abortion, you will have evidence of what the doctor told you.
- Will it hurt?
- What options and supportive services are available to me if I choose not to abort?
- What is the fetus like right now? What can it do? What can it feel?
- If I need to be hospitalized, at which hospitals do you have privileges?
- Will you treat me for complications?
- What are the chances I will experience any of the following problems?
Physical
- Hemorrhage
- Retained products of conception
- Damage to the cervix
- Infection
- Perforation of the uterus
- Sterility
- Complications of future pregnancies
Psychological
- Depression
- Anniversary syndrome
- Sexual dysfunction
- Suicidal thoughts
- Interference with personal relationships
Name of Doctor:
Medical Center:
Date of Appointment: